C18 Your Ye Luo

"Are you flirting with me, miss? Believe me, I could just gobble you up," Ye Luo said with a chuckle.

"Hehe, I don't buy that," Ann Xin replied with a playful flick of her tongue. "Now, go on and take your shower."

Ye Luo nodded in agreement. After all, he had been reborn today and had spent half the day fighting, working up quite a sweat. It was definitely time to clean up. More importantly, while waiting for Ann Xin to shower, he had been daydreaming, his mind wandering restlessly. A cold shower was in order to calm his racing thoughts.

Ye Luo promptly headed off to bathe.

Sitting on the bed, Ann Xin watched his silhouette. An unusual expression crossed her innocent, lovely face.

"Brother Ye Luo, is it really you?" she murmured.

Everything felt so unreal to Ann Xin. The Ye Luo she knew from school was a loner, plagued by insecurity, labeled as worthless by his peers.

Even when Ann Xin had pursued him, he barely dared to return her gaze.

Truthfully, there were times when even Ann Xin felt a deep sense of disappointment and pain.

But today, in her moments of despair and helplessness, it was Ye Luo who had arrived just in time, stepping in effortlessly to resolve her troubles.

Could this be the same Ye Luo who was once so withdrawn and disparaged?

"I hope I'm not dreaming," Ann Xin whispered, biting her lip gently before drifting off to sleep.

When Ye Luo emerged from the bathroom, Ann Xin was already asleep. She had been through a lot today, with the incidents at the Supreme Wealthy Class and the hospital taking their toll.

Approaching the bed, Ye Luo gazed at Ann Xin's youthful yet resilient face, feeling a surge of compassion.

In his past life, he remembered, Ann Xin juggled school with tutoring jobs to earn money, all while caring for her ill mother. Her life had been incredibly hard.

She could have chosen a wealthy suitor to improve her plight, yet she had chosen him, a decision that puzzled Ye Luo to this day.

But Ann Xin had endured enough hardship in her previous life. This time around, things would be different.

Ye Luo tenderly tucked Ann Xin in with a blanket. As he was about to settle himself on the sofa for the night, Ann Xin's grip on his wrist stopped him.

"Ye Luo, don't leave. I'm scared," she whispered.

Bending down, Ye Luo softly stroked her hand. "Don't worry, I'll stay right here with you."

"No, I'm still frightened. I need you to hold me," Ann Xin murmured, her voice wavering between sleep and wakefulness, her eyes glistening with tears that tugged at the heartstrings.

After a brief hesitation, Ye Luo lay down beside her and wrapped her gently in his embrace.

That night, Ann Xin slept soundly in Ye Luo's arms, while many in Linhai City lay awake.

In a posh villa district of Linhai, a middle-aged woman was furiously berating a group of black-clad bodyguards as if she had lost her mind.

"Useless, all of you! The Gu family spends millions every year on your salaries for my son's protection. And now? If anything happens to him, I swear you'll all pay with your lives!"

"Enough already, isn't this tiresome?" interjected a middle-aged man, slumped on the couch, his once formidable and authoritative visage now marred by worry.

"How dare you shout at me? Your son has been beaten to a pulp, and you're not even outraged? I demand that the culprit who harmed my son be brought to justice, to be torn limb from limb!" the woman shrieked uncontrollably.

The man, Gu Xianchang, was the chairman of Linhai's Xiangshi Group and father to Gu Jun.

The news that Gu Jun had been brutally beaten at the Supreme Wealthy Class had reached him, and he was shocked that anyone in Linhai City would dare to attack his son.

"Ah Cheng, have we gotten to the bottom of this?" Gu Xianchang asked a towering, muscular man at his side.

"It's been confirmed. The assailant is Ye Luo, a student from Linhai University. It seems that Gu Jun had his eye on a girl named Ann Xin, who happens to be Ye Luo's girlfriend. Ann Xin apparently resisted his advances, and so..."

At that point, Gu Xianchang had pretty much figured it out.

He was acutely aware of his son's character; his misdeeds with women were too numerous to count. It seemed this time, his son had tangled with a hot-headed individual who hadn't taken the Gu family's status into account.

"This disobedient son of mine," Gu Xianchang lamented, "I always knew he'd eventually cause trouble."

"What are you implying, Gu Xianchang? Our son has been beaten to a pulp, and you're still blaming him? He simply took a liking to a woman—a woman who should count herself lucky to have caught our son's eye. It's her good fortune, and yet she's ungrateful. Where is she? Find her immediately. I demand she pays with her life for what she's done to my son!" the woman raged furiously.

"What has Guu Tianxiong said about this? His Supreme Wealthy Class is his domain, after all. My son was attacked on his turf; what's his stance?" Gu Xianchang inquired.

"I've reached out to Guu Tianxiong's people, but they claim it's a private matter between guests, unrelated to the Supreme Wealthy Class. They told us to contact the police if necessary," Ah Cheng reported.

"Contact the police?" A cold, murderous glint appeared in Gu Xianchang's eyes. "Guu Tianxiong must be enjoying watching us squirm. Gu Jun may be a ne'er-do-well, but he's still my son, Gu Xianchang's son. He's not someone just anyone can harm. Tomorrow, take a team to Linhai University and bring me this Ye Luo. My son has suffered—I want him to pay back tenfold."

"Once you've got him, hand him over to me. I want her to wish she were dead!" the woman seethed with venom.

"Consider it done," came the reply.

The following day, Ann Xin awoke in Ye Luo's embrace to find it was already past eight in the morning. Exhausted, she had slept so deeply that she had completely forgotten about school.

"Oh no, I'm late, I'm so late!" Ann Xin exclaimed, springing up from the bed.

Ye Luo walked in with breakfast just in time to catch the scene. "Hey, Sleepyhead, finally awake?"

Startled by Ye Luo's voice, Ann Xin instinctively clutched her chest, then looked at him with wide eyes. It took her a moment to recall the events of the previous day, her cheeks flushing crimson as she snatched up her clothes and darted into the bathroom.

Half an hour later, Ye Luo was holding Ann Xin's hand as they left the hospital.

"Ye Luo, what about Chen Junjie? He won't retaliate, will he? My mom's still in the hospital," Ann Xin fretted.

"Don't worry. Unless Chen Junjie and Lu Mingxiang are fools, I doubt they'd do anything foolish. But if they are, I wouldn't mind teaching them a lesson," Ye Luo reassured her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

Comforted by Ye Luo's words and the warmth of his touch, Ann Xin's anxiety melted away.

"Why are you staring at me like that? I mean, I know I'm quite the looker," Ye Luo teased with a grin.

"Ye Luo, I've noticed something—you've changed," Ann Xin observed.

"In what way?"

"I can't quite put my finger on it, but you just seem different."

"Don't worry. No matter how I change, I'll always be your Ye Luo. And you're mine—no escaping that."

At Linhai University's Material Science College, Polymer Class One:

Hsu Danian glanced anxiously at the empty seat beside him. Class had already started, and Ye Luo was nowhere to be seen.

"Hmph, Hsu Danian, I didn't expect you to have such luck, coming back to class alive. But your dear friend Ye Luo doesn't seem to share your good fortune," Wang Ping said mockingly as she sauntered up to Hsu Danian.

Caught off guard, Hsu Danian scratched his head and looked over at his ex-girlfriend, Wang Ping. To his surprise, she was now arm in arm with another man.